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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The University of Alabama in Huntsville has been providing personal protection equipment to medical centers across the Tennessee Valley.

A center at UAH found a way to use what it already has to produce hundreds of face shields. The Systems Management and Production Center has been partnering with the university’s College of Nursing to create technologies that will help countless healthcare workers.

UAH — Demonstrating use of an intubation box. From left, Keith Windham, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist; Mike Conrad, vice president of operations for Decatur Morgan Hospital; and Chris Sallis of UAH.

When the pandemic hit Alabama, the production center repurposed its 3D printing software to make face shields.

The department has been in production for the last three weeks, without a single worker meeting face to face.

“Rather than sit at home and read the news and becoming depressed, we decided to try to fight back the best we could and we have done this in a very safe environment. Everyone is working from home,” said UAH Systems Management and Production Director Gary Maddux.

To keep things going, the UAH foundation board provided $30,000 to help defray the costs of making face shields, intubation boxes, and other protective equipment.

UAH — Intubation boxes delivered to Decatur Morgan Hospital.

Maddux said the College of Nursing has been a central player in school’s gifting efforts. UAH posted online that it donated 150 gowns, 200 surgical masks, 50 goggles, 100 surgical shoe covers and 100 surgical caps to Crestwood Hospital and Huntsville Hospital.